Tennessee should hire Penn State’s defense co-coordinator, Tim Banks, as the Volunteers’ defense coordinator, sources told ESPN.
Banks, 49, has spent the past five seasons in Penn State, where he also trained Lions Nittany security guards. Prior to that, he was the defense co-coordinator in Illinois, the defense co-coordinator in Cincinnati and the defense coordinator in Central Michigan, who is his alma mater. Yahoo Sports reported for the first time on Monday that Tennessee was finalizing a deal to hire Banks.
This will be Banks’ first stint as a coach at the SEC, although he was an assistant in Memphis in 2001 and 2002. While in Cincinnati, Banks was nominated for the Frank Broyles Award in 2011 as the best assistant coach in college football.
Banks’ hiring completes a long and tortuous search for new Tennessee coach Josh Heupel to find his defensive coordinator. Last weekend, Tennessee was in extensive conversation with Kansas City Chiefs linebacker coach Matt House, sources told ESPN, but House decided to stay in the NFL. Heupel also gave a hard push to Ohio state linebacker coach Al Washington and then to Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive line coach Kacy Rodgers and, early in the process, contacted USC defensive coordinator Todd Orlando and Louisville’s defensive coordinator Bryan Brown, among others.
The Vols have yet to fill most of their defensive team, but defensive line veteran Rodney Garner was hired last week. Garner has spent the past 30 years training at the SEC. This is your second visit to Tennessee.